In early October, angler Hailey Thomas set a brand new Idaho state catch-and-release report with a 36-inch rainbow trout/cutthroat trout hybrid—generally referred to as a cutbow. The tank of a fish had a 21-inch girth, and early estimates put it within the 17- to 20-pound vary. In response to the story within the Idaho Statesman, Thomas and her household have been fishing on Henrys Lake and having a fairly gradual day because of poor water readability. Simply as they have been about to drag anchor and transfer, Thomas’ bait (which wasn’t specified within the article) bought picked up by the huge hybrid. The earlier report, which got here from the Snake River, measured 30 inches and had been held by angler Ryan Ivy since 2018.
Henrys Lake is a well known blue-ribbon trout fishery. It’s house to native Yellowstone cutthroats, in addition to brook trout and the cutbows, which extra generally develop to monster proportions than pure pressure trout, no less than in U.S. waters. Nonetheless, measurement potential apart, many anglers are turned off by hybrid fish, predominantly as a result of they’re not pure. In the meantime, different anglers gravitate to those mashups, however to grasp the rift, you need to have a look at the professionals and cons of those fish.
Tiger’s Story
Tiger trout are a cross between a brown trout and a brook trout. These fish can, in truth, happen naturally within the wild, although it’s pretty uncommon. The Driftless areas of Iowa and Wisconsin boast a better abundance of naturally occurring tigers than every other a part of the nation, which is why fly anglers seeking to full the U.S. wild trout slam flock to space. Years in the past, in a small Central Pennsylvania fly store, I stared at an image of a tiny wild tiger on the wall. It was some of the beautiful trout I’d ever seen with its gold marbling and olive highlights. The photograph, nonetheless, was 20 years outdated, and it was the one wild tiger the proprietor had caught in 40 years of casting on Slate Run. These little pure tigers are extremely prized, however they aren’t to be confused with the opposite extra frequent hatchery tigers which many trout snobs detest.
Tigers are straightforward to fabricate. Really easy that many states combine them in with their hatchery rainbows and browns for spring and fall stockings. At a base stage, these fish simply present the possibility to catch one thing totally different and extra distinctive than the run-of-the-mill stocker, however there’s extra attraction than that. Whereas wild tigers would not often exceed 12 inches, hatchery tigers are consuming machines that develop huge rapidly. This makes them extra aggressive than different trout, although people who dislike hatchery fish will inform you they’re simply dumber and assault issues different trout could not. I can attest to that.
Thus far, I’ve solely ever caught one trout on a mouse fly in broad daylight within the Northeast, and it was a 22-inch tiger. Regardless of figuring out there have been loads of wild browns in the identical run, they weren’t getting fooled by a black chunk of froth skating on the floor whereas the solar was nonetheless up. This status of hybrids being simpler to catch can be prevalent with tiger muskies—a cross between a pure pressure muskie and a northern pike—however that has by no means been my expertise.
Native Flavors
I’ve caught a handful of pure pressure muskies in my life, however by no means a tiger regardless that I’ve frolicked on lakes and rivers loaded with them. Every of those places was chosen as a result of anyone instructed me the tigers in there have been straightforward. I used to be instructed they simply eat something you throw. Nicely, they didn’t. Whereas I will not be satisfied that tiger muskies are simpler, many muskie diehards imagine it so fervently they gained’t even get excited once they catch a tiger muskie. Oddly, although, I perceive this perspective, as a result of I really feel the identical about hybrid striped bass—they’re cool, however not as cool as pure pressure salty stripers.
A lot of the controversy over the price of hatchery-made hybrids merely boils all the way down to location. If I lived inland the place there was no entry to coastal stripers, I’d in all probability love hybrid stripers. If tiger muskies are your solely native muskie possibility, you may be all in on chasing them. Apparently, nonetheless, most of Idaho’s cutbows aren’t a hatchery creation, and pose a real drawback to the ecosystem.
Crossing Guards
By design, hatchery hybrid fish are sterile so they can’t reproduce. Additionally they don’t typically reside so long as pure pressure fish. It’s this live-fast-die-young issue that stops most hybrids from harming their environments. For instance, a handful of stocked tiger trout that find yourself in wild trout water pose minimal menace, as a result of they gained’t spawn, they usually’ll compete with wild fish for meals for a comparatively brief time. That is additionally why it’s not unusual for lakes to grow to be utterly devoid of tiger muskies inside a couple of years of stocking applications ending.
The cutbows in Henrys Lake the place Thomas not too long ago claimed the brand new report are purposely stocked and sterile to forestall breeding. It’s a distinct story, nonetheless, in Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake River.
In response to this story within the Lewiston Tribune, printed in 2019, the state of Idaho has been desperately attempting to persuade anglers to kill extra rainbow trout within the river. They made the variety of rainbows that may be saved per day limitless. These fish have been implanted a long time in the past, however not like these uncommon tiger trout within the Midwest, the rainbows are hybridizing with the native cutthroat trout at a quick tempo. The mix of non-native rainbows and growing numbers of extra aggressive hybrid cutbows is now threatening the river’s inhabitants of native pure-strain cutthroats.
The irony right here is that the typical trout fisherman within the West catches and releases, whereas these stocked tiger trout within the East and center America find yourself in pellet people who smoke extra typically. For Idaho to actually make a dent within the Snake’s rainbow and cutbow inhabitants would require an enormous shift in angler perspective. In the meantime, I let each tiger trout I catch go, as a result of regardless of them being hatchery creations I nonetheless get excited once I stick one and love the concept of them being round.
